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Single handed sailing?


Lombard

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I've been on the fence for the CS15 for some time now. Most sailing will be with me the dog, and sometimes my Grandson.

The CS17 appeals to me also, just in case I want to camp on it. Is it difficult to handle the CS17 alone? As a side note

the limited sailing I've done has been on a Catalina 25, and that was always with two or three people crewing the boat.

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I single-hand my CS20 very often. Not a problem. I have a little 1-1/2 year old girl who I only take out if someone else is aboard to watch her. The boat is easy to handle alone, but she likes to move around a lot and I feel better if someone is on hand to make sure she doesn't go over the side. I find it a little exhausting trying to single-hand and keep tabs on her by myself. But if your grandson is old enough to keep seated and follow directions, that won't be a problem at all. Our dogs (two Chihuahuas) love the boat too... plenty of cozy little areas to curl up and nap. I would think the CS17 would feel even easier to manage.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks again for the replies.

After a bunch of mincing, I got out the measuring tape, and my work space in our attached carport is 20' x 16'.

Hope two and a half feet on either end will be enough. We ordered the plans for the CS 15. Carla said it will be a couple weeks,

most likely, before we receive our plans. They are still in recovery mode over there, and the local post office was washed away

during the storm.

I am stoked about finally committing to a set of plans, and my dear wife said, "good Lord what have you gotten us into now."

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Sailing single handed is a joy and completely different from having a crew aboard, even if they only hand you a drink once in a while. I used to race solo on my Catalina 25 with spinnaker. Planning each move beforehand is critical. Tried to sail with spinnaker on my Grand Slam 7.9 but the boat would not self steer well enough to allow moving about the boat. Once I rounded a small island on Lake Lanier and put up the genoa without taking the spinnaker down. For a time I had all three sails set well and drawing with the boat well heeled and moving great on a reach. That would be a tough enough thing to do even with a good crew.

Now, Liz gets bent out of shape if I go out alone on a bigger boat. Maybe she thinks my pacemaker battery will go dead.

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I normally sail singlehanded on a 17 foot sloop. Once you are familiar with the boat, the sails, all the strings to pull, etc, sailing alone is not a problem and great fun tricking the wind into taking your boat anywhere you want to go. Although one person can sail larger boats.....smaller boats have lighter loads and are easier to setup and handle and are more responsive and fun to sail.

Having recently sailed on a cat ketch for the first time (thank you Tony!), the "fun of getting there" part is the same, but the effort involved is way less. Short tacking in confined waters in a sloop singled handed (needing to use sheet winches) is a workout. Doing it in a cat ketch is a yawn.

Have fun with the build and by the time you are done, your Admirable will ask to be the first one you take for a sail.

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Peter HK, I see what you mean. I will now know that our build will be done in the lap of luxury. :D

Tom, I got a sailing lesson on a Catalina, from Lanier sailing, can't imagine sailing that one without some help with the sheets.

Glad that I only have to worry about hearing aid batteries going dead.

PAR, you got me laughing with that one.

Howard, the ease of tacking a cat ketch was one of the factors in choosing to build a CS.

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I solo quite frequently, mostly because no body likes me well enough to come along. Sailing single handed is more mind set then anything else. Eventually, you get the rig setup to make things easier, but it's not a necessity.

Yeah Paul, but I think that I could take the abuse as long as its delivered quietly.

Singlehanding a medium size sloop is actually easier than many small boats as long as the jib isn't too big and some sort of steering line set up is used. I use a single line looped around the sheer and looped over the tiller at both ends. Set the tension to whatever suits the wind of the day. I moved down to a 22 foot centerboarder when the mechanics of the Grand Slam became too much for me.

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